Beyonce’s First Concert After Blue Ivy’s Birth: Getting Back To Work After the Baby

Word on the streets of Atlantic City is that just four months after the birth of her baby girl Blue Ivy Carter, new mom Beyonce will be headed back to the stage with a three-day concert performance on Memorial Day Weekend.

Beyonce’s first post-baby performance will be May 25^th to May 27^th at the all-new REVEL Resort in Atlantic City, where she’ll reportedly be presenting a brand new intimate show. On Beyonce’s official website, the show is announced as “Beyonce getting back to business” with “the unstoppable star at the brand new beachfront resort.” Tickets for Beyonce’s concert go on sale April 6.

And while the star is readying herself for the stage, the New York Post reports that hubby Jay-Z is sealing down final details on Beyonce blockbuster comeback world tour, a deal that could be worth $150 million for the star, who is jointly managed by Jay-Z’s Roc nation and the concert tour company, Live Nation.

Of course, Beyonce’s rush back to the stage is nothing new for working mothers, who’ve long pushed out babies and beat it back to work—some barely with enough time off the job to walk straight after the trauma of delivery. Maternity policy here in the U.S. is downright draconian; a 2011 study by Human Rights Watch showed that at least 178 countries have national laws guaranteeing paid leave for new mothers, while the U.S. and a handful of other exceptions, like Swaziland and Papua New Guinea, have minimal coverage. Under our 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act, workers with new children or seriously ill family members can take up to 12 weeks unpaid leave, but it excludes companies with fewer than 50 employees, which means it covers only about half the work force. And really, who can afford to take 12 weeks unpaid leave these days?

When I gave birth to my daughters in New York, my job gave me six weeks paid leave, but I just couldn’t fathom the idea of leaving my little baby with a babysitter or in a daycare center—without benefit of my arms, my breasts, my snuggles, my kisses. Between my paid six weeks, my 12 weeks of additional unpaid leave and my vacation and sick time, I managed to cobble together almost nine months off work to be with my firstborn, Mari, and about three months with my Lila (by the time she was born, I was working for a different company that wasn’t as generous with maternity leave). I was blessed in ways that many other mothers, working part-time jobs or toiling in small companies, with no help or support from their employers, their children’s fathers, and federal law are not.

Luckly, Beyonce, who has benefit of her super supportive sister, Solange, her mother, and, no doubt, a staff whose sole duty is to make sure her baby is close by and extremely well cared for as she gets her body back in working shape and hits the concert stage in Atlantic City. Good for her for doing what she loves—belting out high-energy tunes on the stage—as she loves on baby Blue Ivy.

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